A blog on current events, some focus on history regarding local, British Columbia and worldwide , military stuff, Landrovers and shooting.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

More guns, less crime

A tad old, but worth posting as reality keeps getting in the way of gun control nuts arguments. By the way the sale of ammunition in North America excluding military buys was 12 billion rounds of ammunition sold. I don’t want to do the math on just how small the percentage of ammo used in crime is.

FBI RELEASES 2009 CRIME REPORT . . . As firearms and ammunition experienced record sales in 2009, the nation's crime rates continued to fall, a new report from the FBI shows. During 2009, violent crime declined for the third straight year, with an estimated 5.3 percent drop from 2008 figures. Homicides were down 7.3 percent. The FBI statistics undermine a favorite argument of anti-gun groups and some mainstream media that "more guns equal more crime," especially when you consider that the decrease in violent crime in 2009 occurred at the same time that firearm sales were surging.

THIRD YEAR OF FALLING CRIME PROVES

GUN GRABBERS WRONG CCRKBA

BELLEVUE, WA For the third straight year, violent crime has declined in all categories while gun sales climbed, gun ownership expanded and more citizens are carrying firearms for personal protection; proof positive that gun prohibitionists have been consistently and undeniably wrong, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

The FBI released its 2009 report on Crime in the United States, showing that murder declined 7.3 percent, robberies fell 8 percent, aggravated assault dropped by 4.2 percent and forcible rape has declined 2.6 percent. Meanwhile, the National Shooting Sports Foundation notes that gun sales in 2009 were up dramatically.

From NRA-ILA - Gun Ownership Rises to All-Time High,

Violent Crime Falls to 35-Year Low

Coinciding with a surge in gun purchases that began shortly before the 2008 elections, violent crime decreased six percent between 2008 and 2009, including an eight percent decrease in murder and a nine percent decrease in robbery.1 Since 1991, when violent crime peaked, it has decreased 43 percent to a 35-year low. Murder has fallen 49 percent to a 45-year low.2 At the same time, the number of guns that Americans own has risen by about 90 million. Predictions by gun control supporters, that increasing the number of guns, particularly handguns and so-called “assault weapons,” would cause crime to increase, have been proven profoundly lacking in clairvoyance.4

Crimes per 100,000 population Total Violent Crime

Aggravated Assault

Year Murder Rape Robbery

1991 758.1 9.8 42.3 272.7 433.3

2008 457.5 5.4 29.7 145.7 276.7

2009 429.4 5.0 28.7 133.0 262.8

Trend, 2008-2009 -6% -8% -4% -9% -5%

Trend, 1991-2009 -43% -49% -32% -51% -39%

More Guns: There are well over 250 million privately-owned firearms in the U.S., including nearly 100 million handguns and tens of millions of “assault weapons”—the types of firearms that gun control supporters have tried the hardest to get banned5—and the number of firearms typically rises about 4 million per year.6 Annual numbers of new AR-15s, the most popular semi-automatic rifle that gun control supporters call an “assault weapon,” are soaring. In 2008, there were more than 337,000 new AR-15s configured for home defense, competition, training, recreational target practice and hunting.7 NRA-supported Instant Check firearm transactions have increased over 10 percent annually since 2006.8

Less Gun Control: Over the last quarter-century, many federal, state and local gun control laws have been eliminated or made less restrictive. The federal “assault weapon” ban, upon which gun control supporters claimed public safety hinged, expired in 2004 and the murder rate has since dropped 10 percent. The federal handgun waiting period, for years the centerpiece of gun control supporters’ agenda, expired in 1998, in favor of the NRA-supported national Instant Check, and the murder rate has since dropped 21 percent. Accordingly, some states have eliminated obsolete waiting periods and purchase permit requirements. There are now 40 Right-to-Carry states, an all-time high, up from 10 in 1987. All states have hunter protection laws, 48 have range protection laws, 48 prohibit local gun laws more restrictive than state law, 44 protect the right to arms in their constitutions, 33 have “castle doctrine” laws protecting the right to use guns in self-defense, and Congress and 33 states prohibit frivolous lawsuits against the firearm industry.9 Studies for Congress, the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress, the National Institutes of Justice, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found no evidence that gun control reduces crime.10 The FBI doesn’t list gun control as one of the many factors that determine the type and level of crime from place to place.11

2 comments:

The statistics you're droning on about are all strictly correlational. AKA they have no substance.

Obviously the vast majority of gun owners are responsible and use them as such. BUT the ease of access to firearms clearly makes it a hell of a lot easier for psychopaths to fulfill their dreams. See Colorado.

The nutbar in Colorado clearly also had access to explosives and would have used them instead. I also note that apparently the theatre he attacked was a "gun free zone" as it was posted that no legal firearms permitted. Likely that played a part in his target choice as well. Considering he also apparently planned this for some time I doubt he would have been stopped by any gun restrictions, he would have done it something else.

As for the Stats, gun ownership is going up and firearm related homicides are not following the increase, so crime is not linked to access to guns, crime and homicide exist independently of firearms.